What Would Granny Weatherwax Do?
She'd make the over enthusiastic security guards think they were frogs and they'd be terrified of anyone wearing boots.
Of course, Nanny Ogg would have got the young man to to leave the building in the vague hope that he'd probably have more fun elsewhere, which is closer to what a real security staff would do.
IIRC, Mohammed Atta had the European-equivalent of a Masters in civil engineering, so I bet he could have easily made the calculations to determine that the jet fuel would burn hot enough to weaken the steel to collapse the buildings. Note that both jets were tilted to about a 45 degree angle on impact, the better to take out several floors' support.
Isn't (or wasn't) Osama Bin Laden also a Civil Engineer? I worked out once that someone his age would have been doing his engineering degree while the WTC was being built. The innovative design of the structure would have been exactly the kind of topical thing taught during structural engineering classes, and the sort of thing that an engineer would remember later.
Charlie Stross #122:
and the last major colony handed over to China in 1996
It was 1997, because I had the occasional pleasure of being harangued by the Black Watch (AKA Her Majesty's Drunken Arseholes), for the sin of having an Irish accent, right up until June 30 1997.
After which they all buggered off and it rained for a month.
PJ@35: But that would be cruel and he'd be unable to escape. You'd think a hunter like him would appreciate a chance for the prey to escape...
I'm not a gun-loving type, but I'd sure be willing to play the national anthem in power chords on a 3 Megawatt Marshall Amp within a few feet of Mr. Cheney's heart. (Which may or may not be kept in jar somewhere, not necessarily anywhere near Mr. Cheney.)
Ajay@32, unfortunately resignation/incapacitation or death means President Dick 'Dick' Cheney. Unless his swearing in involves unexpected 21 Gun salutes, random and unpredictable loud noises, large rubber dinosaurs or other such incidents as might be contraindicated in a man with a barely functioning heart, I doubt that many here would find that acceptable.
Still, it would be interesting to see him actually put his hand on a bible...
As for foreign invasion or violent insurrection, an American public fighting off the evil invaders from, umm, Belgium ("People of America, you *will* learn to appreciate mayonnaise on your frîtes de liberté"), would probably experience no cognitive dissonance in blowing up the invaders with homemade bombs while decrying the obviously completely reprehensible activities of the 'insurgents' in Iraq.
Ron Goodden @ 33:
Just out of curiosity, why the South China Morning News?
I'm sure that 'Ron' isn't going to grace us with his presence again, but the SCMP (Post, not News, but that's a minor point) is one of the two English Language newpapers here in Hong Kong.
There's a large American Business Community (ABC) here, which I think this stuff is aimed at. (There were other missives to the Singapore Straits Times, another place with a substantial ABC.)
Those who live in HK may get used to odd socialist notions like universal healthcare[1] and a working and completely integrated transport system[2].
Obviously, some prompting on the cult of Bush is deemed necessary to keep the faithful in line.
dave
[1] Both of our children were born in the public hospitals at a cost of HK$204 (about US$25) for a three day stay. Everyone I met in the Hospital spoke probably better English than I do, usually as their third or fourth Language.
[2] There's a single card which works on all three rail networks, the tram network, the ferries, the buses and mini-buses and you can even use it to buy stuff in 7-11, Circle-K and most supermarkets. "Multi-pass" a friend from California called it, echoing The Fifth Element.
Some of the local bloggers here in Hong Kong believe that the newpaper in question — the South China Morning Post — touches up the English on letters to the editor. This may result in the letter appearing to be the work of a professional writer, when it's largely the work of a professional editor.
I don't know if this is standard practice for LTEs everywhere, though, and the perp. in question is also a proof-reader on the Gutenberg Project (cite) which may be a good indicator for him being a professional writer of some sort.
Teresa, thanks for the link.
...(since for some reason I can't post a comment over there)...
I've scoured the logs and I can't see any reason why your post didn't appear. It didn't get tagged as spam or get put aside for moderation. There's a POST in the log, but no sign of the comment. Very strange.
#85: "Caster Suger" is sugar run through your blender/moulinex/cuisinart/+5 Vorpal Sword: http://www.ochef.com/580.htm.
#134, #135: They're Terry's Chocolate Oranges.
Swindon's Magic Roundabout
I just wish they had signs like "keep to turnwise, pass on widdershins."
Jack Ruttan ::: (view all by) ::: July 15, 2006, 01:05 PM:
...(hello, Cthulu!)...
Hello Cthulhu
Presumably he's hoping the ancient land-bridge will reform across the Bering Strait in the time it takes him to get from Good Hope to the Far North.
Parts of the strait freeze over during the wintertime. Several expeditions have attempted to cross the straits by land-based transport and some have even succeeded:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/humber/4872348.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait
Eve ::: (view all by) ::: July 06, 2006, 09:56 PM:
I've always loved the way that a mistranslation means that 'Vindaloo' now denotes two completely different curries - a Goan one involving lots of garlic and vinegar, and an Anglo-Pakistani one with potatoes.
There's another version too. It's the "Oh look, Rajit, yet another bunch of falling down drunk racist yobs has come in for a curry after being thrown out of the pubs. Shall we give them the 'left-over meat, semi-lethal dose of chilis and Hindu urine' dish?" version.
"Almost but not quite entirely unlike $FOO" is pretty easy to work into something. Unfortunately, so is the Blackadder (alt.history, so vaguely SF) "There's only one thing wrong with that plan; it's complete bollocks."
"It has become *precious* to me" is useful, in reponse to things like "Dave, can I have that $SOFTWARE manual back?". It helps to do the body language too.
Rob Rusick:
Flashblock by default blocks all Flash,
but leaves a placeholder
so you can play the ones you want or need
( a lot of sites use Flash for their interface ).
You can set up a whitelist
for sites you don't want it to block.
Those short line lengths are really distracting: I keep interpreting it as some sort of free verse. I always have an image of you wearing a beret, pounding away on the bongos while typing your posts. (There's probably someone ironing their hair in the background.)
Are you using lynx or something similar?
dave "damn the electric fence!"
> Greg, the problem with The Dread Pirate Bin Laden
> is that if you applied this tests laid out in this
> argument to Umkhonto we Sizwe circa 1975 you'd
> have ended up hanging Nelson Mandela. Ditto if you
> applied it to the PLO circa 1982 in Lebanon, or
> the Provisional IRA in the 70s and 80s and 90s
> (cross border bases in Ireland, anyone?).
Charlie, I can't speak for the other two examples you gave, but I grew up in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Provisional IRA seemed to spend much of their efforts in the Republic selling drugs, robbing banks and kidnapping foreign businessmen. 'Pirates' seems like a very accurate description of them. And they had strong ties to Libya/Islamic terrorists and the Columbian drug cartels too.
RickS (a first-time poster):
When your population density equals that of mainland China?
The US is hardly over populated. It would even be hard to level that accusation at Mainland China, given how much of the country is empty. (The visible population density from the highways reminds me of France in the early 1990s.)
(I know it's a little more dense in the villages, but a lot of China is empty. Villagers (like my in-laws) have enough space for a rice paddy per house, and space for a pig within the house walls.)
(oh, and the 1.2 billion population is pure drivel. Families with more than one child simply fail to register the second (or first if a daughter) or subsequent kids. My own brother-in-law has three unregistered kids. The real population of China is probably about 1.5 Billion people or more.)
To Dave Luckett:
You know, Australians are now justifiably proud of their wine (I'm enjoying a glass of Margaret River Shiraz right now) and that's all due to French and German immigrants.
Australia is currently famed for its fine cuisine which blends Asian and European traditions with locally sourced fresh food. I have never eaten so well in my life as when in restaurants in Melbourne.
(Brisbane is good too, but Melbourne is in a class of its own. Brisbane probably has more non-white Australians, but more hostility to accepting them, thanks to Queensland's long history of fascism. [Google: Bjelke Petersen])
Lunch might be a Chicken Tikka wrap, Lamb Madras with rice, Chinese chicken or fish or sushi*. After work, maybe some Belgian, Irish or Aussie beer, followed by a kebab or gyro or maybe a curry.
*sushi in Oz comes in California Rolls about four inches long. I asked the guy selling them why they made them like that and he said (in Cantonese) "that's what the customer wants, so that's what we make. We'll cut them to normal size if you want." (I live in Hong Kong and speak a little Cantonese.)
Would you really want to go back to a country where 'exotic food' was orange spagetti from a tin? Where coffee was instant or, um, instant? Where beer was northern (Castlemaine) or Southern (Victoria Bitter)? Where wine was imported from France (and expensive) or from England (and crap)?
Sure, some people don't integrate. But you know what? Maybe recent immigrants from what-the-heck-istan won't have barbecues in the backyard with pork sausages and beer, but you know, maybe their kids, or even their grandkids will have some traditional thing they do which all of Australia will adopt. (How many of the original (british) Australians drank wine, for example. How many do now? A heck of a lot more!)
Maybe someday soon, you'll go to a barbecue with your grandkids where they're serving steamed fish with white wine (because of the Cantonese influence), or the barbecue is only used for cooking the bread and people eat the fish raw (what with all the Japanese students around), or there's an entire goat roasting on a spit with curry sauce or mint sauce dips to taste?
(And curiously enough, "American History X" has been on TV while I've been writing this.)
A lot of my Aussie colleages are starting to identify with the Aboriginal theme of the land owning you, rather than you owning the land. I've known a few people who, when they get stressed out, need to go and walk in the country, need to go walkabout. They need to get in touch with the land. I'm reminded of the conquering Normans who ended up more Irish than the Irish themselves.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 29 |
| 2005 | 4 |
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